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Thread: Rollin' Smoke

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy three50seven's Avatar
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    Rollin' Smoke

    Ok, New PC'er here....second time powder coating (first time I left the room while the oven was on) and there's smoke rolling out of my toaster oven! Is this normal? I also used a silicone baking mat on this batch, as opposed to aluminum foil the first time. Any thoughts?

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  2. #2
    Boolit Master

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    Smoke has not been normal in my experience. I have used Harbor Freight red and a selection of Smoke's powders. I use non-stick foil.
    "There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something."
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  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy three50seven's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Taterhead View Post
    Smoke has not been normal in my experience. I have used Harbor Freight red and a selection of Smoke's powders. I use non-stick foil.
    I was using HF red as well. Maybe it was a coating on the silicone mat? I dunno....the boolits turned out good though!

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  4. #4
    Boolit Master

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    most of the silicone mats I've come across include instructions for heat seasoning them. I'll guess you didn't and the smoke was merely surface contaminants cooking off the mats. I precook my mats and mini-ice cube trays.

    For what it's worth, the super cheapo silicone mats seem to work just fine for our purposes as long as you don't have abnormal hot spots in your oven. When I was first in the market for silicone mats, I read a lot of reviews and most of the negative reviews seemed to be from heat failure. I'd put a lot of money on crappy ovens vs bad silicone mats. Taking temp readings at various points of your chosen rack level in the oven is probably a good idea, although a convection/air recirculation type oven mitigates hotspot issues, IMO.
    “Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem.” Ronald Reagan


  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy three50seven's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by oley55 View Post
    most of the silicone mats I've come across include instructions for heat seasoning them. I'll guess you didn't and the smoke was merely surface contaminants cooking off the mats. I precook my mats and mini-ice cube trays.

    For what it's worth, the super cheapo silicone mats seem to work just fine for our purposes as long as you don't have abnormal hot spots in your oven. When I was first in the market for silicone mats, I read a lot of reviews and most of the negative reviews seemed to be from heat failure. I'd put a lot of money on crappy ovens vs bad silicone mats. Taking temp readings at various points of your chosen rack level in the oven is probably a good idea, although a convection/air recirculation type oven mitigates hotspot issues, IMO.
    That's correct, I didn't read any instructions about the mat (if there were any). I got a 2-pack of cheapo's off Amazon. Also, my oven is a cheap little thing from Walmart. If I continue down this road (and I think I will) I guess I should upgrade my equipment.

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  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    I've never seen smoke before and I use a toaster oven from Walmart and bought my silicone mats from Amazon. Did you take the oven and mats from the package and go straight to baking?

    Not that it makes much difference with your smoke issue, I do cut my oven on and let to heat up before use. It has more to do with stabilizing the heat than anything else.

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy three50seven's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DHDeal View Post
    I've never seen smoke before and I use a toaster oven from Walmart and bought my silicone mats from Amazon. Did you take the oven and mats from the package and go straight to baking?
    More or less. They sat for a week or so before I got a chance to try them out. I didn't wash them or anything though.


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  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    I use the silicone mats and ice trays. The trays for me make better looking boolits. I haven't noticed much smoke.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    I suppose I didn't word that too well. I was wondering if you had heated up the oven before putting the first tray of bullets in. I'll admit to doing similar, except I always preheat for a while until temperature stabilizes. This usually takes at least 10 minutes in the summer. I'd think any residual oils (or whatever) would be baked off. The silicone mats weren't shown any mercy other than cutting to fit the pan and bullets got loaded and 400° of heat.

    How did the bullets look? Did they pass the test?

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy three50seven's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DHDeal View Post
    I suppose I didn't word that too well. I was wondering if you had heated up the oven before putting the first tray of bullets in. I'll admit to doing similar, except I always preheat for a while until temperature stabilizes. This usually takes at least 10 minutes in the summer. I'd think any residual oils (or whatever) would be baked off. The silicone mats weren't shown any mercy other than cutting to fit the pan and bullets got loaded and 400° of heat.

    How did the bullets look? Did they pass the test?
    I did not pre-heat the oven this time, though I have used it once before and didn't notice any smoking that time.

    The bullets look great!

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  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    I discovered that my toaster oven, when on pre-heat, turns the top burner on all the way- I ended up with melted globs of lead contained in globs of PC. Now I let it get up to temp before putting the trays in.
    Loren

  12. #12
    Boolit Master


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    I bake in back of truck under a shelter. When the sun shines over the top of the toaster I see some smoke. It goes away before I get to 400°.
    keep up wind just to be on safe side
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  13. #13
    Boolit Mold
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    I have been looking for a reliable source of powder coating and color recommendations that work. I have used Kawasaki Green and it worked great. I used two different reds and blues from Columbia Powder Coating and they would not stick. I do not want to coat all the calibers I use only in green. I use the shake bake method. Thanks in advance for your help.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dryb2860 View Post
    I have been looking for a reliable source of powder coating and color recommendations that work. I have used Kawasaki Green and it worked great. I used two different reds and blues from Columbia Powder Coating and they would not stick. I do not want to coat all the calibers I use only in green. I use the shake bake method. Thanks in advance for your help.
    https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...owder-For-sale Smokes personally tests his powders for shake-n-bake use.
    “Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem.” Ronald Reagan


  15. #15
    Boolit Bub
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    For PC I use the Harbor Freight red, yellow and white. Yellow coated nicely, red and white look splotchy. Wally World toaster oven at about 350 °F for about 10 minutes. After tumbling I place them bottom down on a "custom" aluminum tray which is covered with a piece of parchment paper. With two trays I can coat and load while the others are cooking. When cooked, allow to cool and start the process again. The red ones look like little lipstick cases. For fun I experimented with mixing the colors. Haven't mixed white and red yet. Red and Yellow made sort of a mustard color with little red dots.
    No smoke from this setup. Original first run oven as too hot and those funky shaped boolits went back into the pot. Now that was where the smoke was as it burned off the boolit.

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